As the curtain rises, we see mother, sons, and diaphanous ghostly daughters. Father is absent from the beginning, and it is precisely this absence which is the focal point of the drama. Father is the brooding accusing presence hidden off stage, perhaps the author of the play. The accusation is one of murder and the usurpation of the missing Father's power. The missing Father charges a conspiracy between Mother and the sons. The sons, reeking of guilt, mill about Mother, as she accuses the missing Father of a "wicked crime" and "shameful acts." The Mother tells the brothers that but for their common act against the Father, they would never have seen the light of day. With these words the curtain falls on the prologue of the play.

Father represents the ideal, He who has been mutilated, and He who, at the end of time, will be whole again. Father is the one missing from the corporate body, He whose judgement lies just beyond the horizon. It is Mother who is that horizon, within which the play unfolds.